Expensive Knight Uate can't keep anything in reserve By ROBERT DILLON Aug. 13, 2015, 10:43 p.m.
Akuila Uate
Akuila Uate
See your ad here
IF Knights coach Danny Buderus sounded frustrated with Akuila Uate during his Wednesday press conference, one can only imagine his reaction had he heard the struggling winger's interview just a few minutes earlier.
Asked by the Newcastle Herald's Brett Keeble if the emergence of tyros like Jake Mamo, the Mata'utia brothers and Nathan Ross was "keeping you on your toes", Uate replied: "Nah, nah, not really mate. As I told the coaches, you know, they're coming through. Sometimes they're training real well, and I'm really happy whatever they do, the coaches . . . I'm happy to go back to NSW Cup and come back. That's how it is in footy."
Pardon? "Happy to go back to NSW Cup"?
In isolation, this could perhaps be dismissed as a clumsy attempt from Uate to dead bat a curly question.
But 12 months ago, when he was sent back for a one-game stint in purgatory, the former Test flanker apparently had no qualms about the experience: "I've got to stay positive, coming back to play NSW Cup . . . I had fun today and the boys did, too, and it was good to get a win."
Having fun in the "reggies" is all well and good if Uate is happy to settle for reserve-grade money, but as perhaps the highest-paid winger in the NRL, I'd imagine Newcastle's powers-that-be have higher expectations.
Uate's comments would appear to contrast starkly with the smarten-up edict issued by Knights chief executive Matt Gidley two months ago, when he warned the club's under-performing stars that if they were not "hungry to work hard, succeed and win premierships . . . then this is not the club for you".
Gidley added: "We want players here who are desperate to win comps, desperate to represent our town, and we want them to work as hard as they possibly can to achieve those things, and we don't shy away from that."
Somehow a winger earning at least $500,000 a season and "happy" to play the odd game in NSW Cup does not seem to fit Gidley's criteria.
See your ad here
Moreover, the dilemma for Knights officials is magnified if you consider another Uate comment on Wednesday: "I've got another two years [at Newcastle]. So we'll see how we go after two years."
In other words, the 27-year-old is not even halfway through the lucrative four-year contract extension he signed with Newcastle in 2013.
At the time of signing, he was one of the most lethal finishers in the NRL and also a bulldozer on kick-returns, attributes that outweighed his unease under the high ball and tendency to go AWOL in defence.
Since then, however, it would appear the law of diminishing returns is taking effect.
Consider Uate's try hauls over the past five seasons: 20 from 23 games in 2011, 18 from 22 in 2012, 15 from 24 in 2013, 12 from 15 in 2014 and 11 from 18 this year. So at a time when the Knights are desperate to free up cash under their salary cap, one of their top earners not only appears a waning force in attack, he has also been a significant factor in a deteriorating defence that has leaked more points (538) than any other team in the NRL.
Uate, of course, is not Robinson Crusoe. Only a handful of Newcastle players are entitled to be satisfied with their individual efforts during this season of woe.
And there might have been mitigating circumstances during his lacklustre showing against the Roosters, which prompted Buderus to observe bluntly: "He'll need to play a lot better than what he did on the weekend."
It was the Fijian's first appearance after a two-game lay-off with a knee injury, and perhaps he deserves some credit for attempting to play through the pain barrier.
But if he was underdone, he was doing himself and his team a disservice, especially as his late inclusion meant a fully fit Mamo dropped back to NSW Cup.
Buderus clearly won't let him make the same mistake two weeks running: "If he's not 100 per cent, I'm going to take it out of his hands and not let him play."
Knights fans can only hope such treatment would sting Uate's pride more than he is prepared to publicly admit.
